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MAG Renewal 2019: General guidance

General guidance and notes to take into consideration regarding nominations for a position on the MAG

The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) was established by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2006 to assist the Secretary-General in convening the annual IGF Meeting by advising on the programme and schedule. MAG members serve in their personal capacity, but are expected to have established linkages within stakeholder communities. More information is available in the MAG Terms of References.

The United Nations Secretary-General appoints members, with careful consideration of the recommendations made by stakeholder groups and nominations from the broader community. The overall composition of the MAG should have a regional, stakeholder and gender balance and in this light nominators are requested to review past and returning MAG member affiliations. Further, the Secretary-General launched the gender parity strategy in September 2017 as part of a system-wide campaign to advance this priority at the United Nations.

Members coming from the Government stakeholder group may hold up to 40% of the total number of seats on the MAG, with the remaining percentage shared equally across the three other stakeholder groups, i.e. civil society, private sector and the technical community. Individual appointments are for a one (1)-year term, with a maximum of three (3) consecutive terms. The total number of members on the MAG should be fifty (50) in 2019, for the purposes of rationalizing the overall process. These numbers have fluctuated in the past due largely to the fact that returning members have occasionally changed stakeholder groups.

Former IGF Host Countries hold one seat each on the MAG. Treaty-based intergovernmental organizations can also hold observer seats on the MAG.
Countries that were not represented or were under-represented in previous MAG compositions will have an advantage over those that have had continuous or frequent representation on the MAG.

At the end of the 2018 IGF cycle, nineteen (19) MAG members are due to be rotated out, as they have served a full three (3)-year term and one (1) member that is eligible to continue serving, but has expressed a request of no longer being able to serve on the MAG.
Each of the MAG members rotating out is freeing up one seat for the regional and stakeholder group they initially occupied.

Given the overall aim for the MAG 2019 to be composed of fifty (50) MAG members, this year’s nominations announcement calls for the following number of seats:

Stakeholder Group Balance

Stakeholder Group

2018 Rotations

Available seats for the MAG 2019 Renewal

Government

9 (out of 23)

6 (to equal 20)

Civil Society

5 (out of 11)

4 (to equal 10)

Private Sector

2 (out of 11)

1 (to equal 10)

Technical Community

3 (out of 10)

3 (to equal 10)

Total

19 (out of 55)

14 (total seats = 50)

Regional Group Balance

Regional Group

2018 Rotations

Available seats for the MAG 2019 Renewal

Africa

4 (out of 11)

3 (to equal 10)

Asia Pacific

7 (out of 13)

5 (to equal 11)

Eastern Europe

1 (out of 10)

0 (to equal 9)

GRULAC

4 (out of 11)

4 (to equal 10)

WEOG

3 (out of 11)

2 (to equal 10)

Total

19 (out of 55)

14 (total seats = 50)

Gender Balance

The 2019 MAG composition will aim for parity in terms of gender representation.
Excluding the members that are due to be rotated out, the breakdown per gender of the remaining members that are eligible to continue serving, is: 18 female and 18 male members. This indicates that the 2019 MAG renewal will aim for appointing 7 female MAG members and 7 male MAG members, resulting in equal gender distribution within the overall MAG composition.

Given the gender of the members that are due to rotate out, this Renewal, however, may not result in parity within each stakeholder group in each regional group. In the long term, the MAG composition will aim for having equal distribution of female and male members within each stakeholder group in each region (e.g. 2 female and 2 male members in the Governmental stakeholder groups; 1 female and 1 male member in all other stakeholder groups, across all regions).

Nevertheless, this Renewal will aim to have, as close as possible, gender parity across stakeholder and regional groups, and therefore calling for nomination consideration of the following seats:

As noted above, countries that were not represented or were underrepresented in previous MAG compositions, will have an advantage over those that have had continuous or frequent representation on the MAG. Below is the historical overview of countries’ representation per the UN regional groups, with indication in parentheses in case of multiyear representation:

*Please note that these breakdowns are provided for general guidance only, and that the overall composition depends on several considerations including the nominations received, as well as the final decision of the UN Secretary-General.

List of members that are due to be rotated out

The table below indicates the MAG members who have served three (3) consecutive terms on the MAG:

Title

Last Name, First Name

Regional Group

Stakeholder Group

Terms Served

Ms.

Abdulla, Rasha

Africa

Civil Society

3 Terms

Ms.

Aquino Ribeiro, Renata

GRULAC

Civil Society

3 Terms

Mr.

Casasbuenas, Julian

GRULAC

Civil Society

3 Terms

Ms.

Tamanikaiwaimaro, Salanieta

Asia Pacific

Civil Society

3 Terms

Mr.

Douglas, Onyango

Africa

Technical Community

3 Terms

Mr.

Estrada, Miguel Ignacio4

GRULAC

Technical Community

3 Terms

Mr.

Sabir, Ahmed Sumon

Asia Pacific

Technical Community

3 Terms

Mr.

Bazlyankov, Iliya

Eastern Europe

Private Sector

3 Terms

Mr.

Mansoor Ansari, Omar

Asia Pacific

Private Sector

3 Terms

Ms.

Bou Harb, Zeina

Asia Pacific

Government

3 Terms

Mr.

Donkor, Wisdom

Africa

Government

3 Terms

Mr.

Cheon, Billy Mooho

Asia Pacific

Government

3 Terms

Ms.

Erramuspe, Alejandra

GRULAC

Government

3 Terms

Ms.

Franz I., Liesyl

WEOG

Government

3 Terms

Mr.

Muataz, Mohammed

Africa

Government

3 Terms

Mr.

Pérez Galindo, Rafael

WEOG

Government

3 Terms

Mr.

Rhijn van, Arnold

WEOG

Government

3 Terms

Ms.

Soriano, Jianne*

Asia Pacific

Civil Society

1 Term

Mr.

Wanawit, Akhuputra

Asia Pacific

Government

3 Terms

*Member informed that no longer will serve on the MAG.

_______________________________________________________________________________________1 Taking into account the scope of the region, and the fact that the IGF aims for increasing private sector participation, it is proposed to add one more member in this region. The Eastern European region is significantly smaller that others, and it is proposed not to add a new member for this Renewal.2 Ibid.4 During the 2016 term, the member has changed the initial stakeholder group from Government to Private Sector, and in 2017 to Technical Community. The changes have been made accordingly. The member will free the seat for the group he initially came in with (Government).